The recent Common Country Analysison Nigeria by the United Nations further puts Nigeria up for development-driven political structure, writes SAM NWOKORO
The United Nations is the world’s final and most credible authoritative rating body ever created in the world today. This so far is not debatable because of its influence. It is one institution whose views or profiling of any nation is not taken with a pinch of salt. This is validated by the sheer mandate of the body as contained in the charter that set it up in 1945. It emerged from the ashes of the League of Nations formed after World War II.
On October 24, 1945, the United Nations Charter was adopted.It was signed on June 26 same year, when it became effective and ready to be enforced.
The UNis a child of perceived necessity, as a means of better arbitrating international conflict and negotiating peace than was provided for by the old League of Nations. The World War II became the real impetus for the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union to begin formulating the original UN Declaration signed by 26 nations in January 1942, as a formal act of opposition to Germany, Italy and Japan – the Axis Powers.
The principles of the UN Charter were first formulated at the San Francisco Conference, which convened on April 25, 1945. It was presided over by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, and attended by representatives of 50 nations, including nine European states; 21 North, Central and South American republics; seven Middle Eastern states; five British Commonwealth nations;two Soviet republics (in addition to the USSR itself);two East Asian nations; and three African states.
The conference laid out a structure for a new international organisation that was to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights,to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.”
Two other important objectives described in the Charter were respecting the principles of equal rights and self-determination of all peoples (originally directed at smaller nations now vulnerable to being swallowed up by the Communist behemoths emerging from the war) and international cooperation in solving economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems.
With the war over, negotiating and maintaining the peace was the practical responsibility of the new U.N. Security Council, made up of the U.S., Britain, France, Soviet Union and China. Each would have veto power over the other. Churchill called for the UN to employ its charter in the service of creating a new, united Europe – united in its opposition to communist expansion – East and West. Given the composition of the Security Council, this would prove easier said than done.
Implications on sovereign rating
By the very nature of UN’s statutory role in managing, maintaining and enforcing peace and order in member countries, her opinion about the affairs of any member is taken as the ultimate views and global perception index on such a country. Just as the economic rating of a country is periodically done by Bretton Wood institutions and by such private global raters as Standard&Poors, Moody’s or Fitch, UN’s rating on the sovereign health of any nation is taken seriously. Thus,UN 2016 Country Assessment Report is a document that would guide not only investors about the profile of the country, but also political state and non-state actors, multilateral and bilateral friends of the country and the international organisations.
The UN Common Country Analysis (CCA) report read in Nigeria recently by a visiting UN official overseeing the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) IV for South East part of Nigeria, Toby Lanzer, painted a gloomy picture, with most of the development and social indices in the country registering at levels unacceptable.
The report, which was read during a consultative meeting on the formulation of UNDAF IV for the South East geo-political zone in Awka, observed that, for decades, different segments of Nigeria’s population had, at different times, expressed feelings of marginalisation, of being short-changed, dominated, oppressed, threatened, or even targeted for elimination.
The report read in part: “Nigeria, with a population of over 175 million, is the most populous nation in Africa and the seventh most populous in the world. Her population will be approximately 200 million by 2019 and over 400 million by 2050, becoming one of the top five populous countries in the world.
“Nigeria is one of the poorest and most unequal countries in the world, with over 80 million or 64 per cent of her population living below poverty line. The situation has not changed over the decades, but is increasing. Poverty and hunger have remained high in rural areas, remote communities and among female-headed households, and these cut across the six geo-political zones, with prevalence ranging from approximately 46.9 percent in the South West to 74.3 percent in North West and North East.
“In Nigeria, 37 per cent of children under five years old were stunted, 18 percent wasted, 29 per cent underweight and overall, only 10 per cent of children aged six to 23 months are fed appropriately based on recommended infant and young children feeding practices.
“Youth unemployment, which is 42 per cent in 2016, is very high, creating poverty, helplessness, despair and easy target for crime and terrorism. Over 10 million children of school age are out of schools with no knowledge and skills.”
It noted that Nigeria’s economy is in a recession, and it is estimated that government revenues have fallen by as much as 33 percent, which has further resulted in the contraction of the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) by 0.36 percent in the first three months of 2016.
“The overall consequence is the situation of systematic and chronic internal displacement that has given rise to different humanitarian crises that include the most egregious and dehumanising human rights abuses. Over 80 million Nigerians live in poverty and are affected in one way or another by the current humanitarian crisis. Available reports indicate that there are over 3.3 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), which is Africa’s largest, ranking behind Syria and Columbia on a global scale,” the document further disclosed.
According to UNDAF IV, “The major challenges Nigeria is currently facing that constrain her economic growth and social development are lack of good governance, general increased insecurity across in the North East, Niger Delta and Lake Chad region in particular. “The situation is exacerbated by the existence of systematic accountability challenges, limited capacities of independent institutions/commissions and limited accountability at the federal, states and local government levels.”
Nigeria, it added, is a deeply divided society considering the plurality of ethnic, religious and regional identities that define her political existence. “Since Independence in 1960, Nigeria has struggled to build and sustain national integration. For decades, different segments of Nigeria’s population had, at different times, expressed feelings of marginalisation, of being short-changed, dominated, oppressed, threatened, or even targeted for elimination.”
The report recommended that transforming and diversifying Nigeria’s development paths needed a radical and new approach, especially by investing in people and in a strong more dynamic and inclusive productive informal sector. It also called for a design and support of joint programmes to address good governance, peace and security.
Confirming trends
The UN’s latest take on Nigeria’s socio-economic profile could pass as the final status report on the sustainability of the Nigerian state, unless a drastic resetting is done on her economic and political structures. The implication of the UN’s rating also means that Nigeria, as it is presently run, could not meet any appreciable level of compliance to UN’s current 17-point Sustainable Development Agenda (SDA).
The Millennium Development Goal (MDG), which ran through 2000 to 2015, saw Nigeria failing in meeting any of the eight-point programmes: viz; food security, malaria combat, extermination of the six child Killer Diseases, shelter, rule of law, HIV/Aids elimination, environmental sustainability and inclusive growth policies. OnJanuary 1, 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 SDA – adopted by world leaders in September 2015 at a historic UN Summit – officially came into force. Over the next 15 years, with these new goals that universally apply to all, countries will mobilise efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change, while ensuring that no one is left behind.
The SDGs build on the success of the MDGs and aim to go further to end all forms of poverty. The new goals are unique in that they call for action by all countries, poor, rich and middle-income to promote prosperity while protecting the planet. They recognise that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and addresses a range of social needs, including education, health, social protection, and job opportunities, while tackling climate change and environmental protection.
Recently, former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)governor, Professor ChukwumaSoludo, who was among the UN-appointed seven wise men that drafted the SDG, gave a damning verdict about the Nigerian economy, urging the Muhammadu Buhari administration to devise quick and effective measures to reflate the economy and “stop the blame game”.
And U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry,who visited Nigeria late August covertly told the present Nigerian leaders to do some political restructuring of the country. He made the remark while addressing the All Progressives Congress (APC) governors’ retreat and seminar on the economylate last month.
At home, rampaging militants in the SouthSouth part of the country has not paused in their campaign to “cripple the Nigerian economy”, a project it commenced since February this year, while the much talked about peace or dialogue between the major militant groups and their South East counterpartsin the mould of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) are yet to fully commence.
On September 7, the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB)held what could pass as another worldwide rallies in the nine states of the former Eastern Region, coinciding with renewed stalking and blow-ups of Nigeria’s oil and gas installations.
MASSOB threatened to shut down all the five states in the South East Nigeria on September 23, obviously as a political statement, as the Igbos mark the September 27 annual World Igbo Day. The shut-down was successful in a way, as majority of Ndigbo complied.
International commentators interpret these developments as confirming UN’s ambivalence that the present political and economic structures of the country are getting increasingly shackled.